STEM CLUB JR
WHAT IS STEM CLUB JR?
Charger Robotics hosts a free 5 week program to inspire elementary K-6 youth in STEM in the Kent School District. Several team members meet with about 10-40 students on a weekly basis, for five weeks. Each week includes a unique engineering challenge like popsicle stick bridge construction, spaghetti towers, or bottle rockets. The fifth week is a robot demonstration and introduction to FIRST. STEM Club Jr is designed to build early STEM skills like teamwork, design, and the basic engineering process.
STEM CLUB JR RESULTS
Started in
2013
Inspired over
800
Future innovators
30
STEM Clubs Run Since 2011
STEM CLUB HAS A MAJOR IMPACT
15%
More 5th grade students pass the Washington State Science Test
TARGETING SCHOOLS WHO NEED STEM CLUB MOST
In 2020, our team conducted a statistical analysis of the impact of STEM club Jr. Our findings were notable; schools who hosted STEM Club Jr in the previous year saw an average 15% increase in the percentage of students who passed the 5th grade state science exam, with a p-value of 0.025 (É‘=5% , R-squared=78%). With this dramatic impact, we developed a weighted matrix to determine the most beneficial schools to host STEM Club Jr at.
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The percentage of low-income students (defined as the percentage on free or reduced lunch programs)
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The percentage of 5th grade students who passed the science exam the previous year
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Travel time from our home school
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Number of previous STEM Clubs hosted there
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Number of previous STEM Nights or science fairs attended
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Total number of students in 4th-6th grade
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If we hosted STEM Club there in the previous year
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If the school had less than 40% of 5th graders pass the science exam
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The percentage of students in an English Language Learners program
WHAT FACTORS MAKE UP OUR STEM CLUB ALGORITHM?
Using this information, we’ve identified the schools
that will benefit the most from STEM Club Jr, and will be using this result as
we schedule STEM Club in a Box in 2021
The resounding success and popularity of STEM Club Jr in our district prompted 3786 to start developing a curriculum during the 2019 season. Finished this year, STEM Club StartUp is targeted at other FRC teams. Similar to STARS , STEM Club StartUp provides step-by-step instruction on scheduling, running activities, and making the most of STEM Club at any school. We included the exact email format that we use when reaching out to schools, and modifications to the activities for groups that are larger, younger, older, or at a different experience level than the original activities were designed for.